Aftermath, Ponder, Visitor, Message
by Avii Sohen
Summary: The calamity is over, but the dead are still unsettled. Mei Misaki goes to live with Kouichi after another tragic accident. While they are together, the people who died as a result of the calamity visit them, each bringing a message. Death follows Kouichi and Mei like a loyal dog and they never seem to escape it. contains gore, violence and some disturbing images
1. Chapter 1

Another Fanfiction

Prologue:

Mei Misaki watched as panic swirled around her. Everyone was talking at once. _Soon, their panic will turn into sadness, _Mei thought. Right before her eyes she watched as her home, and her mothers studio burned. The fire department had arrived just as she was walking home from school. As she stared at the house with both of her eyes she knew that all of the efforts to squelch the flames were in vain. She could see the color of death surrounding the house. Her mother was dead. Her pulse quickened. Her mother was dead she realized. Did this mean, the calamity wasn't over?

Part 1~Aftermath

"I'm so sorry, Mei," Kouichi said. This was the second family member Mei had lost. He couldn't imagine what she was feeling.

Mei remained silent. She stared off into the open, looking more emotionally distant that usual.

"Do you think this means..." Kouichi's voice trailed off. Mei knew what he was thinking. She was thinking it too. Had her mother died as a result of the calamity? Or was it purely a coincidence? Had they killed the wrong person? Was the calamity not truly over?

"If you don't have any place to go, you can always live with me," Kouichi said softly.

"Thanks," Mei said, then she wondered out loud, "Do you think you are the next to die?"

"No! Why would you say something like that?" Kouichi answered nervously.

"Because," Mei said calmly, "It seems that anyone I'm close to ends up dying, first my sister and now my mom. Your the closest person to me now. It would only be logical to wonder."

Kouichi said nothing. Was he the next to die?

Part 2~Ponder

Kouichi stared at his bedroom ceiling. _Do you think you are the next to die? _He couldn't get Mei's words out of his head. _Am I the next to die? _Looking at it logically, it was likely that he would be. Two Mei's close family members had died of random accidents and in the beginning she was thought to be the cause of the calamity. Kouichi shook his head. He refused to believe that his friend was the cause of two deaths. _You are the closest person to me now. _The more Kouichi thought about it the more he realized it was true. The only other family Mei had was her biological mom, an she might be a little reluctant to take in a girl who looks like an exact replica of her dead daughter. He was the only friend Mei had. Most of the class was still terrified of her. If he was the next to die, who would Mei turn to after he was dead?

Part 3~Visitor

Mei knocked softly on Kouichi's door. Today she moves in with his family. She has one backpack full of her things. Most of her belongings were destroyed in the fire. She sets up a sleeping mat on the floor of Kouichi's bedroom. The evening moves on in a blur. Kouichi's parents are caring and seem to genuinely care about her well being. _I sincerely hope Kouichi is not the next to die. _Mei thinks.

It is 1:00 in the morning when the sound of soft slow carnival music awakens Kouichi.

"Mei, do you hear that?" Kouichi whispers.

Mei nods, "I've been awake for two hours now listening to it."

The music plays eerily around them.

"Where is it coming from?" Kouichi asks.

"I don't kno-"

Mei is interrupted by the sound of something collapsing into the middle of the floor. The color of death bubbled around where the sound originated. A ghostly figure of a girl appeared in the center of the room.

"Mei, that girl look exactly like you!" Kouichi gasped.

"I know it's my sister."

Part 4~Message

"Hello, Mei." Misaki said in a slow ghostly voice.

Mei stared in disbelief. She had never believed in ghosts, and now here was the ghost of her dead twin sister staring at her.

Misaki laughed softly.

"I know I have a lot of explaining to do but I don't have much time to do it."

Misaki continued, "Each of the people who died as a result of the calamity will visit you. Each of them has something to tell you, about life, death or both. Some of these messages are warnings, some of them are not."

"What is your message?" Kouichi asked.

"My message," Misaki said, "Is good luck and stay close. You two have a special relationship with death. For the rest of your life you will be close to it."

And with that Misaki vanished, leaving nothing but the sound of fading carnival music.

"Did that just happen?" Kouichi asked.

Mei nodded. Her sisters ghost had appeared to them and more ghosts were coming their way.

Part 5~Aftermath

Mei and Kouichi sit in silence. "Why," Kouichi begins, "Why was there carnival music?"

Kouichi looks at Mei. She seems to be on a different planet. She stares at the wall, her face emotionless but her eyes filled with sadness.

"We went to a carnival just before she died." Mei says quietly. "She collapsed just as she was walking home."

It made sense. The large thud in the middle of the room was the sound of Mei's sister collapsing. The two hours of carnival music were what happened before her death.

"Do you think, I'll ever be able to see Misaki again?" Mei wonders quietly.

Kouichi stared at her sadly. Fate was playing a cruel joke on Mei, bringing her sister back, only to take her away again. It seemed sadness followed Mei like a loyal dog, maybe it was starting to penetrate her shell of indifference.

Part 6~ Ponder

Mei sat in Kouichi's back yard and thought, _I saw her, even if it was just for a few minutes, she was there. _Seeing her sister again had made Mei realize how much she missed her. When her sister had died, Mei expected to feel sadness, she did to an extent. But it was a private sadness. A sadness that only she knew about. A sadness no one else could see. When she lost her twin sister she had not only lost her closest friend, but her other half. Twins are connected in ways not even science can understand. Without Misaki, Mei wasn't whole. Mei felt a tear roll down her cheek. She was crying. The tear almost made her laugh. Mei could not remember the last time she cried. Her mother had taught her to keep her emotions to herself from a very young age. _My mother, my adoptive mother that is, _Mei thought, _is dead too. _Did she miss her mother? She didn't know. She did know that she missed her sister. She put her hands up to her face and cried for the first time in what must have been years. Once she quieted herself, she took a deep breath and returned to her state of icy emotional calm. She would not allow herself to look vulnerable in public. No one must know that she had cried. Unbeknownst to her, someone had seen the whole episode. Kouichi was in the tree directly above where Mei was sitting, and had seen the whole thing.

Part 7~ Visitor

Mei and Kouichi sat across from each other on the floor. A notepad sat between them. So far it read 人1：美咲藤岡 メッセージ：幸運と密接ご利用いただけます。あなたは死と特別な関係を持っています。(Person one: Misaki Fujioka Message: Good luck and stay close. You have a special relationship with death.) Writing everything down in an organized way made it seem like they had more control over the situation. It gave a false sense of security. They sat in silence. Each trying to look less terrified than they actually were.

Crack! A huge clap of thunder burst. Mei and Kouichi both jumped. Rain began pouring down the window.

"The rain is so sudden." Mei murmured. Kouichi nodded slowly. The rain seemed familiar.

The rain continued for another hour. Mei and Kouichi remained silent. Just as they were dozing off, there was a loud click.

"Thats strange, it sounded like the window came unlocke-" before Kouichi could finish his sentence the window flung open. Rain soaked everything. Kouichi and Mei crept closer to the window. They could not find anything outside that could have opened the window. While their backs were turned they heard a sickening crack. In the middle of the room was Yukari Sakuragi with her umbrella skewered through her throat. Blood pored out of her just as it had the day she died, but instead of lying their dead, she pulled herself up into a sitting position.

"Hello Kouichi, hello Mei," she said softly. As she spoke the umbrella in her throat moved and squirted blood at them. It was truly horrifying.

Part 8~ Message

"I was the second death of the calamity," Yukari continued, "when I was alive, I tried to be the best. I got good grades, I was class officer, I was quiet and soft spoken, and rarely offended anyone."

Mei and Kouichi listened carefully and tried not to pay attention to the bloody umbrella protruding from her throat. Yukari cleared her throat causing the umbrella to spasm and blood to fling against the walls, "The one thing I regret is not speaking out enough. I was so worried about being liked that I hardly ever shared my opinion."

"Is that your message to us?" Mei asked.

"Not quite," Yukari answered, "my message to you is this: Have no regrets because death is final."

And with that final word, the umbrella in Yukari's throat opened, swallowing up Yukari's body. When the umbrella closed, Yukari was gone.

Part 9~ Aftermath

Kouichi's eyes were wide with horror. This was the second time he had watched Yukari die. Mei faced Kouichi, "Are you ok?" she asked.

Kouichi nodded slowly, still processing the events that had just occurred.

Mei got up and closed the window. "Lets hope your parents don't notice that your room is soaked."

Kouichi nodded again, unable to see how Mei could still have rational thought after what had just happened.

Part 10~ Ponder

Kouichi sat on the roof of his house. He still couldn't get Yukari out of his head. He had watched her die _twice. _Mei somehow kept a level head. She could still function normally, but he couldn't. _How was Mei handeling this so well? _He wondered. Mei still went about her daily life as though nothing happened. Was she even thinking about what happened? _Mei is stronger than me. _Kouichi thought. She was having to witness the same horrifying things he was and yet she could keep up a wall of emotional indifference. _Mei is the strongest person I'v ever met, _Kouichi thought. He wanted her to know this, but he knew he's never tell her.

Part 11~ Visitor


	2. Chapter 2

Part 11~ Visitor

人2：ゆかり桜木メッセージ：死が最終なので、後悔はありません。(Person 2: Yukari Sakuragi Message: Have no regrets because death in final) Mei added a second entry to their journal. They waited anxiously as they knew another dead person would visit them tonight.

"Do you have any?" Kouichi asked.

"Any what?" Mei said.

"Regrets."

"I regret nothing," Mei said quietly, as though she was trying to convince herself, "Do you have any regrets?"

Kouichi nodded, "I regret not being able to see what was in front of me, I lived with Reiko, I should have been able to tell she was the dead one," Kouichi said,

"I blame myself for many of the deaths that occurred." he added quietly.

A silence fell over them. It was a lethargic silence. Everything felt tired and slow, too slow. Mei and Kouichi heard the snap of industrial cable. They heard the sound of Sanae screaming. Everything was painfully slow, Kouichi and Mei could hear and see every agonizing detail. The sound of Sanae banging against the elevator door as she fell, the faint screeching noise the elevator made as it scraped the sides. When the elevator hit the ground, they heard the sound of every one of Sanae's bones snap. Sanae slowly pulled herself up from the wreckage, her legs both broken, her uniform soaked with blood. She straightened her glasses and smiled. As she smiled the lethargic dreamlike state was broken, and the message was delivered.

Part 12~ Message

Sanae's mouth never opened, on account of her broken and dislocated jaw, but Kouichi and Mei heard the words in their minds.

"When people die, their souls are ripped into fragments. This may sound terrible, but actually it aids in the journey to the afterlife. A wise man once said, _Eyes are the windows into the soul, _you, Mei, are missing one of your windows," she said the last part jokingly. Kouichi couldn't help but smile. Even after death, Sanae's personality hadn't changed.

"Dolls have hollow souls, as you already know. Your dolls eye means that your soul has been ripped in two. The universe doesn't know what to do with you, Mei. Your soul says you're dead, but your body has other ideas. So death will always try to hurt you and those around you. My message to you is this, _Hollow souls don't feel. The more you let your soul become hollow, the closer you are to death._"

And with that, the elevator bits collected and rebuilt themselves. Sanae's bones fused together. Sane entered the ghostly elevator and it skyrocketed upwards, through the ceiling and beyond, leaving Kouichi and Mei in a stunned.

Part 13~ Aftermath

Mei slowly removed her eyepatch. "Take it out," she said.

"What?" Kouichi asked, confused.

"Take out my eye," Mei said calmly, "If it is the source of all of our problems, I want it removed."

Kouichi was too stunned to answer. _She can't be serious_, he thought. Quickly realizing she was he said, "Mei, I don't think it's that simple."

Mei looked utterly defeated. For one small second she had allowed herself to think that maybe there was an easy solution to her problems. _I should know by now_, she scolded herself, _hoping things will be easy just sets you up to be disappointed._

She bit her lip and turned away from Kouichi, blinking back tears.

Kouichi was just noticing it now, and Mei had been thinking it in the back of her mind ever since her adoptive mother had been killed in the fire.

She was slipping.

Mei Misaki was beginning to snap.

Part 14~ Ponder

Mei looked in the mirror staring at her glass eye. _This eye makes my soul hollow_, she thought. _It must be removed. _Mei reached into her pocket and pulled out three knives of varying sizes. She had stolen them from Kouichi's kitchen. _Stupid girl, _she thought, _stealing from the people that gave you a home. _Slowly she picked up the smallest knife and brought it up to her face. She decided that she'd start from the bottom and work her way up. Slowly she put the tip of the knife on the bottom of her eyelid. The metal felt cold against her skin. She looked at herself in the mirror. What was she doing? Mei panicked and her hand slipped. She had cut a large gouge from her lower eye lid to her cheekbone. She screamed in pain. Kouichi burst through the door. He grabbed the knife from her hand and threw it on the floor. He grabbed her shoulders and hugged her tightly. _Stupid girl_, she thought as her blood soaked Kouichi's shirt, _you forgot to lock the door_


	3. Chapter 3

Part 15~ Visitor

Kouichi had screamed at Mei for what seemed like hours after the incident in the bathroom. He made her swear countless times that she would never do anything like that ever again. Mei stayed quiet and motionless for the majority of the time. Eventually, Kouichi sat next to her on the floor against the wall, his arm wrapped around her, his voice nothing but a whisper, "I know you're hurting, I am too, but for the next couple hours we need to pretend we can handle this."

Mei nodded and leaned her head on Kouichi's shoulder, "I think I'm too tired to pretend."

"Then I'll pretend enough for both of us," Kouichi said.

They waited in dread for the next dead person to come.

Kouichi awoke first. Mei remained asleep with her head on his shoulder. He cut had split open again and dried blood caked the side of her face.

Thump

Thump

Thump

Thump

A deep pulsing noise filled the room. It was a constant rhythm. With each beat the room vibrated.

Thump

Thump

Thump

Thump

Mei still wasn't stirring. Kouichi smiled. Sleep deprivation was catching up with her. Maybe he could sleep...

Thump

Thump

Thump

Thump

Kouichi noticed the beat getting faster and more irregular. In the middle of the room, a figure of a ghost began to appear.

"Ikou..." Kouichi whispered. He had been there the first time Ikou Takabayashi had a heart attack, now Kouichi was watching his heart fail again.

Thump

Thump

Thump

Thump

The beating was loud and crazed. Kouichi put his hands over his ears. It felt like the beating was inside him. It was too loud and too familiar.

Thump

Thump

Thump

THUMP

The last beat. Ikou Takabayashi stood in the middle of the room. In his hand he held a still beating human heart. Kouichi looked at Mei. She was still asleep.

Ikou spoke, "Still talking to things that don't exist, eh?" he said jokingly.

Part 16~ Message

"Twenty beats," Ikou said, "That was how many it took for me to die."

Kouichi looked at his friend sadly. He was one of the only people willing to give him information and he died as a result.

"I know what you're thinking," Ikou said, "And it wasn't your fault I died. I would've died whether I told you about the calamity or not."

Kouichi nodded, still not believing him entirely.

Ikou smiled. "Everyone dies, its natural. But while we are alive we need to believe that death is always far away. It keeps us sane. It keeps us happy. My message to you is, people always remember the past better than it was, the present worse than it is and the future less resolved than it will be," Ikou paused, "Be optimistic, death isn't that bad, after all it only happens once!" Ikou said cheerfully.

Mei began to stir. Ikou laughed, "I guess strange people always find each other in the end."

Kouichi blushed. Ikou continued, "Take care of her!"

And with that Ikou vanished, leaving only the sound of a fading heartbeat.

Part 17~ Aftermath

Mei awoke just as Ikou left. She pushed her hair out of her eyes. She wore an incredibly soft expression.

"You missed it," Kouichi said, "Ikou Takabayashi was here." Kouichi said.

Mei nodded. She found a pen and the piece of paper. "We need to fill this in." she said.

人：3早苗水野メッセージ：中空の魂が感じないほど、あなたの魂が中空になる聞かせて近いあなたは死にあります。(Person: 3 Sanae Mizuno Message: Hollow souls don't feel, the more you let your soul become hollow the closer you are to death.)

人：4高林郁夫メッセージ：(Person: 4 Ikou Takabayashi Message:)

"What was Ikou's message?" Mei asked.

Kouichi told her the message, she wrote it down.

人々は常にそれがあったより過去の優れたを覚えて、それがなりよりも、それは、将来の少ない解決よりも悪い存在する場合、楽観的で、死は、それが一度だけ発生したすべての後に、その悪いことではありません。(People always remember the past better than it was, the present worse than it is and the future less resolved than it will be, be optimistic, death isn't that bad, after all it only happens once.)

Part 18~ Ponder

Kouichi lay in the middle his backyard. He assumed that Mei was inside, although he honestly didn't know where she was. She always seemed to disappear during the day. _What am I going to do with Mei? _Kouichi lets out a small laugh, _What am I going to with myself? _The more Kouichi thought about it the more he realized that it was only a matter of time before he did something dangerous and stupid. He had to keep himself in line. If he were to slip, Mei would lose the small amount of sanity she was desperately clinging onto. Mei had already used all of her strength up. She was strong all through the calamity, even when she didn't exist. Kouichi shuddered. He couldn't imagine how lonely that must have been. Mei was completely alone with her thoughts and the pain of just losing her sister. Kouichi shook his head. He would be strong for Mei. He'd shove all the confusion and sadness to a place he couldn't feel it. He'd deal with his feelings later. Like procrastinating on a homework assignment, he'd put it off to the last minute, right before his feelings bubbled up and destroyed him.

Part 19~ Visitor

An unemotional calm resided over Kouichi's bedroom. All emotions were put aside. They needed to be unfeeling and rational people. They needed to get through this. Almost immediately they heard footsteps walking around the room. Haggard breathing followed. Kouichi couldn't help but flinch. He knew whose death this was, and he didn't want to see it again.

"Kyaaaa!" Mei screamed in pain.

Kouichi jumped back, startled.

"It felt like someone stabbed me in the ribs," Mei said, still trying to recover from the blow.

"Gaaaaah!" Kouichi screamed.

He could feel the knife pushing into his skin. The pain as the serrated edges plunged into his body was unbearable.

With every blow from the invisible knives, a shower of blood poured from the ceiling. The smell was sickening.

Part 20~ Message

The blows alternated between Kouichi and Mei. It seemed as though they were the only ones that could hear each others screams of pain. The blood smothered their faces and cloaked their limbs.

Kouichi was the first to vomit. The pain combined with the stench of blood was too much. Mei followed in suit.

This horrific process of stabbing pains, blood and vomit continued for what must have been hours.

As the process was coming to a close., Kouichi and Mei heard their old sensei's maniacal voice.

"This is what happens when you take the pain of others!"

More stabbing. More blood.

"It results in nothing but pain for yourself!"

It screamed.

The room was engulfed in darkness. Mei and Kouichi frantically searched for each other.

The darkness finally cleared with the sound of their sensei's fading laughter.

Mei and Kouichi lay trembling on the floor, their eyes wide with fear.

Part 21~ Aftermath

"We have to tell someone." Kouichi whispered desperately.

"What?" Mei asked shocked.

"We can't handle this one our own." Kouichi responded.

"We can't tell anyone, Kouichi. Who would believe us?"

That silenced Kouichi. He knew for a fact no one would believe them.

"But," Me began, "We can't handle this." Her voice shook as she talked, "How many more people have to die?"

Mei was using all of her energy to keep herself from losing it. You could see the strain written all over her face. The stress was becoming too much, Mei vomited.

Kouichi did his best to comfort her, but he was on the brink of breaking too.

Mei gasped to catch her breath.

"I have something that might make this easier," she breathed.

Mei rustled through her bag of things. She pulled out a modest bottle of vodka. Kouichi's eyes widened, "How is vodka going to solve anything?" he said, slightly irritated.

"It's an escape. Lets you not think for a couple of hours," she replied, staring deeply at the bottle. She twisted the cap off slowly.

_Escape, _Kouichi thought. The word sounded so comforting. "I'll be right back," Kouichi said.

Kouichi returned with two paper dixie cups. Mei skillfully poured the vodka into the glasses. Taking her cup, she tipped back her head and drank its contents. Kouichi watched as a small shudder ran through her body as she swallowed. Slowly, Kouichi began to drink his own cup. His eyes watered and he gasped as the alcohol burned his throat.

"Have you done this before?" Kouichi asked.

Mei nodded, "Once."

Kouichi seriously doubted this was only Mei's second time drinking. Several shots later, delirium sat in. Kouichi now knew what Mei meant by "escape". Suddenly everything felt softer around the edges. The world seemed slightly happier. You could laugh at anything and it would make it ok.

"Kouichi-kun," Mei said lazily. Kouichi was surprised, outside of a school setting, Mei rarely used honorifics.

"Kouichi-kun," Mei said again, expecting an answer. Kouichi sighed, how many shots had Mei done?

"Yes, Mei-chan?" he said, playing along with his drunken friend.

"Kouichi-kun, you're going to burn yourself out, ya know?" Mei said, taking sloppy sip from the bottle of vodka.

"Ya know why, Kouichi-kun? You're dealing with even more sad things than me!"

Mei flopped over so she was lying on her back with Kouichi looking down at her.

"Ever since school ended, I haven't heard you once mention Reiko-san."

This struck a nerve with Kouichi. He had killed Reiko, his beloved aunt, with his own two hands. The memory haunted him, but he hadn't really thought about Reiko recently. After school ended, Mei's mom had been killed. After that, the dead one's had started visiting them. He hadn't had time to think about much of anything.

"Aw, Kouichi-kun! Don't look at me with this sad eyes! See it's happy time!" Mei said as she fisted the now almost empty bottle in Kouichi's face.

Kouichi couldn't help but smile. Mei acted like a little kid when she was drunk.

"Kouichi-kun," Mei began, quieter this time, "I really appreciate you stopping me. Ya know, coming in before I cut my eye out. In fact, there's something I've been wanting to say to you- Hic!" Mei began laughing hysterically at the sound of her own hiccups.

Kouichi laughed along with her. After she regained some control of herself she crawled into Kouichi's bed and fell asleep almost instantly.

Kouichi looked at me. With both of her eyes closed, you couldn't tell she had a glass eye. She had a smile spread across her face. Even if it was only because of the liquor, Kouichi was happy to see Mei smile.

Kouichi lay down on Mei's sleeping mat. The last thing he could remember thinking was that her sleeping mat smelled exactly like her hair


End file.
